Drive Me Wild Read Free Page A

have absolutely no idea, she answered.
    He snarled again. Lower this time. More menacing. “I said, who the hell are you?”
    “I heard you.” She swallowed a knot of fear and lifted her chin. “I just didn’t think it was any of your business.”
    His expression, which she could see clearly, given its current location about a nanometer away from hers—he had really great skin, she noticed, all smooth and even and bronze—turned incredulous.
    “Pardon me? Unless I’m very much mistaken—and I know I’m not—you’ve been tailing me for three blocks. That makes your name, rank, serial number, and intentions very much my business.”
    She forced a carefree grin and watched his golden eyes blaze. She hoped he wouldn’t notice the panic lurking in hers.
    “Well, my name is Tess, my rank is absolutely nothing, I’m horrible with numbers, and my intentions are a little too complicated to explain to you in a dark alley. Plus, I generally talk with my hands, and you’re currently making that a wee bit difficult.”
    He snarled. “I have no time for smart-aleck retorts. Why are you following me?”
    She blinked up at him with wide blue eyes that generally made men smile at her indulgently while telling her to let them handle things and not worry her pretty little head. “Well, I thought that would be obvious. I wanted to know where you were going.”
    He was ignoring the eyes.
    How could he ignore the eyes?
    “Not good enough. Explain. Now.”
    Tess blinked, her mouth curving into the standard plan B pout. “That’s the truth. I wanted to know where you were going. You know, for someone with such a reputation for being a ladies’ man, you could use a little work on your manners.”
    “My manners are fine when I’m with a lady. I’m not entirely sure you qualify.”
    “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means that in my experience, ladies don’t follow men through deserted streets at two thirty in the morning. That’s what criminals and cowards do.”
    The pout had clearly failed as miserably as the big blue eyes, and suddenly Tess felt a lot less confident about her plan C. It didn’t seem to be working. At all. Instead of simultaneously being smitten with her 1940s pin-up girl looks and completely underestimating both her intelligence and her character, the werecat appeared to be pissed off at her. His exotic amber eyes looked hard and impatient, and his sensual mouth looked tight and unamused. This was not the sort of reaction she was used to getting from men.
    Shifting nervously, she tried tugging her hands free, but his grip only tightened. She gave a hard yank, and he responded with a low warning growl. Before she could seriously give in to panic and start struggling, he leaned into her and used his body to keep her immobile against the cold brick wall.
    “Your explanation. Now.”
    Tess swallowed hard. It was about the only movement she could make. He kept her hands pinned above her head, and now his chest crushed her flat while his hips pressed tightly against hers, rendering her completely immobile. She could feel the way he bent his legs to even out their heights, because those legs crowded against hers to keep her still. She couldn’t move a damned muscle, which meant she also couldn’t cast any damned spells. She was helpless. Time for plan D: the truth.
    Just not too much of it.
    “I already explained, sort of. I was supposed to wait for you outside Vircolac until you came out. Then I was supposed to deliver a message and leave. But I got curious to see where you were going in the wee hours of the morning.”
    She made her tone and expression sullen, as if she had given in reluctantly. Which she had, so that could go in the truth column.
    “If you hadn’t jumped me, you’d never have known I was following you. I was just going to see if you were going to a nightclub or something. I’ve never been to one and thought it would be fun to see where the cool ones are. I didn’t